Periodic Reporting for period 1 - Critical Making (Critical Making: Studying RRI Principles in the Maker Community)
Periodo di rendicontazione: 2021-01-01 al 2022-03-31
During the rapid spread of the novel Coronavirus (Covid-19) worldwide, which puts our health systems under unexperienced pressure and brings them close to collapsing in some countries, we were all witnesses to the importance of the maker community for a rapid response to the lack of medical hardware supplies. Across the world we have seen initiatives popping up where maker spaces are called to use their digital fabrication tools to e.g. 3D print valves for life-saving Coronavirus treatments or face shields to offer some protective gear for doctors. But not only does the maker community contribute to the rapid production of needed pieces, it also shows its responsible innovation capacities by rapidly prototyping, testing, documenting and reproducing new products.
The bottom-up initiatives from maker networks across the globe are currently showing us how responsible innovation is happening outside the constraints of profit-driven large industries. We are witnessing critical, socially responsible making and a professionalisation of the maker-driven open hardware movement that is comparable to open source software. But, is the maker community putting social interests before business interests? What effects will the open source hardware designs, that are currently being created and shared, have on the future of manufacturing? Will we see new collaborations across established industries and makers emerging? How will this affect society and especially the younger generation? These are just some of the emerging questions that science and technology studies in a joint effort of different disciplines still have to find answers for. Although we do not specifically address the crisis response of the maker community to the Coronavirus, our motivation for this project is based on the great social innovation potential we see in the maker movement. Critical Making add further scientific insights into the potentials of the maker movement for critical, socially responsible making, and shows how these communities can offer new opportunities for young makers of all genders to contribute to an open society via open innovation.
Critical Making is a Research and Innovation Action (RIA) that adds scientific insights into the potentials of the maker movement for critical, socially responsible making, and shows how these communities can offer new opportunities for young makers of all genders to contribute to an open society via open innovation. The Critical Making consortium studies grassroots innovation processes taking place in makerspaces, hackerspaces, fablabs, etc. and online spaces and relates them to RRI practices. More specifically, we search for and analyse existing innovation and co-design processes taking place in these open spaces to find out in how far they reflect or contradict RRI principles. In three co-designed case actions the project specifically looks at aspects of gender, openness and the recruitment of young talents.
Expected results are hands-on input for practitioners on how to better implement RRI principles in the open innovation movement and will enrich the scientific knowledge base in the RRI community on innovation processes outside of academia, aiming to harness the full innovation potential of the global grassroots maker movement. The overall aim of this project is thus to further develop the concept of Critical Making through the lenses of Grassroots Innovation Movements (GIM) and Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) principles and to better understand those processes through participatory methods.
The bottom-up initiatives from maker networks across the globe are currently showing us how responsible innovation is happening outside the constraints of profit-driven large industries. We are witnessing critical, socially responsible making and a professionalisation of the maker-driven open hardware movement that is comparable to open source software. But, is the maker community putting social interests before business interests? What effects will the open source hardware designs, that are currently being created and shared, have on the future of manufacturing? Will we see new collaborations across established industries and makers emerging? How will this affect society and especially the younger generation? These are just some of the emerging questions that science and technology studies in a joint effort of different disciplines still have to find answers for. Although we do not specifically address the crisis response of the maker community to the Coronavirus, our motivation for this project is based on the great social innovation potential we see in the maker movement. Critical Making add further scientific insights into the potentials of the maker movement for critical, socially responsible making, and shows how these communities can offer new opportunities for young makers of all genders to contribute to an open society via open innovation.
Critical Making is a Research and Innovation Action (RIA) that adds scientific insights into the potentials of the maker movement for critical, socially responsible making, and shows how these communities can offer new opportunities for young makers of all genders to contribute to an open society via open innovation. The Critical Making consortium studies grassroots innovation processes taking place in makerspaces, hackerspaces, fablabs, etc. and online spaces and relates them to RRI practices. More specifically, we search for and analyse existing innovation and co-design processes taking place in these open spaces to find out in how far they reflect or contradict RRI principles. In three co-designed case actions the project specifically looks at aspects of gender, openness and the recruitment of young talents.
Expected results are hands-on input for practitioners on how to better implement RRI principles in the open innovation movement and will enrich the scientific knowledge base in the RRI community on innovation processes outside of academia, aiming to harness the full innovation potential of the global grassroots maker movement. The overall aim of this project is thus to further develop the concept of Critical Making through the lenses of Grassroots Innovation Movements (GIM) and Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) principles and to better understand those processes through participatory methods.
The project started with an exploratory phase of the project, looking into current practices and establishing the baseline for its participatory research. In parallel the theoretical underpinning was strengthened and as a result a first draft of the Critical Making Responsibility Framework was created. The framework is drawing from the GIM (Grassroots Innovation Movement) and RRI (Responsible Research and Innovation) concepts. The definition of 5 core principles of Critical Making has been an important step in communicating the project values beyond the consortium. Base on these principles and the theoretical embedding the project has also started to develop some practical tools for makers to reflect on their maker practices.
Thus, the first set of deliverables relates to the theoretical baseline and a common understanding of critical making practices. We explore specific gender-related activities in maker spaces, educational initiatives in critical making and the different facets of the concept of openness that we encounter in maker practices. The work on openness has also been published as an academic paper in an open access journal. Likewise is the work on the Critical Making Responsibility Framework in the process of being published in an academic journal and currently undergoing a review process.
During the first reporting period the project was also interacting with the community beyond the consortium, mostly in virtual setting due to the ongoing restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Contacts have been established with related projects, such as FRANCIS and some collaboration possibilities have been identified.
The deliverables have all been delivered on time and are available on Zenodo.
Thus, the first set of deliverables relates to the theoretical baseline and a common understanding of critical making practices. We explore specific gender-related activities in maker spaces, educational initiatives in critical making and the different facets of the concept of openness that we encounter in maker practices. The work on openness has also been published as an academic paper in an open access journal. Likewise is the work on the Critical Making Responsibility Framework in the process of being published in an academic journal and currently undergoing a review process.
During the first reporting period the project was also interacting with the community beyond the consortium, mostly in virtual setting due to the ongoing restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Contacts have been established with related projects, such as FRANCIS and some collaboration possibilities have been identified.
The deliverables have all been delivered on time and are available on Zenodo.
Critical making advances the state of knowledge on what the true societal impact and level of RRI in maker communities might be. Currently, sustainable, long-lasting or impactful artefacts still represent the minority of prototypes made in maker spaces. The Critical Making Responsibility Framework and its related practical tools offer the chance to combine practices of making with critical (and sustainable) thinking respectively, to explore topics utilising technologies and materials and thereby creating tangible artefacts which have a societal impact. The COVID-19 pandemic has starkly shown the risks and limits of relying solely on centralised large corporations and governments, and therefore has set off an unprecedented interest in local, distributed, and openly accessible design and manufacturing to solve the massive unmet needs that have surfaced during the crisis. Such a shift, however, needs a critical view on its social responsibility and ethics.
In the Critical Making project we present an ambitious research programme to explore how RRI in maker communities has the potential to enable society to help shape socially relevant, problem and not business-driven innovation and research processes and ultimately leading to more inclusive and sustainable outcomes thereof.
Our expected impacts are:
- Extension of scientific knowledge on RRI
- Uptake of responsible innovation principles in maker communities
- Better education of young social innovators
- Higher gender-balance in the maker communities
- Increased democratisation of science
- Foster transformative innovation policies
In the Critical Making project we present an ambitious research programme to explore how RRI in maker communities has the potential to enable society to help shape socially relevant, problem and not business-driven innovation and research processes and ultimately leading to more inclusive and sustainable outcomes thereof.
Our expected impacts are:
- Extension of scientific knowledge on RRI
- Uptake of responsible innovation principles in maker communities
- Better education of young social innovators
- Higher gender-balance in the maker communities
- Increased democratisation of science
- Foster transformative innovation policies